The United States expanded rapidly in the years immediately preceding and during Jackson's presidency as settlers of European descent began moving west from their traditional territories. White settlers were very interested in obtaining Native American land and urged the federal government to allow them to obtain it. President Andrew Jackson encouraged Congress to pass the Indian Removal Act in 1830, which gave the federal government the authority to move consenting eastern Native American tribes west of the Mississippi River. There has been debate as to whether the Indian Removal Act benefited or harmed the well-being of Native Americans, and it can be argued that the Indian Removal Act of 1830 had an extremely negative impact on the eastern Native American tribes who moved west of the river Mississippi. President Jackson abused the rights granted to Native Americans by law, which meant they received no legal protection when oppressed by white settlers or the government. The passage of the Indian Removal Act also led to the Trail of Tears, which led to the decimation of several eastern Native American tribes. President Jackson took action that went beyond the power given to him by the Indian Removal Act and infringed on the rights granted. to Native Americans under the legislation. Jackson forced Native American tribes to relocate even though this was listed as voluntary under the law, and acted corruptly to pressure the tribes into giving up their land. “Numerous contemporary witnesses provide damning testimony regarding fraud, coercion, corruption and wrongdoing in both the negotiation of removal treaties and their enforcement. In their zeal to secure removal treaties, agents of the Ja...... middle of paper ......eday, 1988.4. Fixico, Donald L., ed. American Indian Treaties: An Encyclopedia of Rights, Conflict, and Sovereignty. 3 vols. ABC-CLIO: ABC-CLIO, 2007.5. Public broadcasting service. “Indian Removal.” PBS.org.http://www.pbs.org/wgbh/aia/part4/4p2959.html (accessed November 25, 2011).6. Register of debates, 21st Cong., I Sess., 9 April 1830, 310.7. Remini, Robert V. Andrew Jackson. Johns Hopkins Pbks. and. Baltimore: The Johns Hopkins University Press, 1998.8. Stewart, Mark. The Indian Removal Act: forced relocation. Minneapolis, MN: Compass Point Books, 2007.9. United States Government. The Indian Removal Act of 1830. Academic.udayton.edu. http://academic.udayton.edu/race/02rights/native10.htm (accessed November 23, 2011).10. Wallace, Anthony FC The Long and Bitter Trail: Andrew Jackson and the Indians. New York: Hill and Wang, 1993.